


Going Through Frustration

by Tabbyluna



Category: Skylanders (Video Games)
Genre: Family, Female Friendship, Gen, Mentions Of Infidelity, Motherhood, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabbyluna/pseuds/Tabbyluna
Summary: Junior liked spending time around her hatchings. As for her and Sonic Boom, it might take a bit more of a push towards friendship. Happy Mother's Day everyone.
Relationships: Bad Juju & Sonic Boom
Kudos: 4





	Going Through Frustration

**Author's Note:**

> I literally realised it was Mother's Day just this morning, so I pushed out a fic as fast as I could.

She was happy that Junior was making friends, though at the moment he mostly stuck around one group. Which surprised her. When she had him, he was a cheerful child. Energetic, eager, far more energetic and eager than she had been at his age. As a result, she had expected him to be a little less like her in other regards. At his age, she was a bookworm and a loner. Laid-back and sleepy. So since he was unlike her in that regard, she expected him to be a social butterfly. Mixing around with all sorts of children.

She supposed he needed to take after in at least one regard. 

Junior liked Sonic Boom’s children, and she suspected it was in part due to their maturity. Those children, they had been reborn thousands of times. But each time, they had always retained a little bit of their wisdom from their previous life. Though they were clearly still children, they had grown to become very wise children, wiser than most children that she knew. Magic, it was a curious thing. But she supposed that was what drew her to it when she was his age. Why not indulge his curiosity.

Bad Juju wondered if that magic was another factor as to why he liked to spend time around them. And maybe he had more similarities with her than she thought.

Thanks to those frequent playdates, she always ended up spending time around Sonic Boom. And well, their relationship was a little rocky at the beginning. Sparked mainly by conflicting parenting styles. Sonic Boom was protective, sometimes overly so. Bad Juju believed in letting Junior explore. She encouraged curiosity, and allowed him to be a free spirit. During their first few conversations, Sonic Boom believed her to be irresponsible. Bad Juju believed her to be uptight. They mostly sat in silence after that, watching their children get along and play. Eventually, they brought along books. Juju brought spellbooks, Sonic Boom brought compilations of heartwarming tales.

“You know some of those stories are faked, right?” Juju said one day, without moving her eyes away from her own book. “All they want is money. There will be embellishments to those stories.”

Sonic Boom exhaled loudly after she made her comment. “Nothing wrong with wanting a bit of fluff. Life’s hard enough as is.”

“It’s fake.” Juju flipped a page of her yellowing book. “No point finding hope in something that isn’t real. If you want to find hope, you’ll need to make it in real life.”

Sonic Boom gave her a nasty glare, and then turned her attention back to her book. For the next hour they sat in silence. Then their children tired themselves out, and they headed their separate ways. 

“We were talking about throwing a sleepover, Mama,” said Junior. “They want to have me come over, and we can have games and all sorts of food. Can I go?”

Juju had to pause when she heard that. Prior, she hadn’t ever spent a night away from her child. Not since he was born. Looking across the field, to where Sonic Boom and her children were, she spotted the woman chatting with her own children. Paying attention to four voices at once. An impressive skill, she would have to admit. 

And then they somehow managed to make eye contact from across the field.

And then the family of griffins walked over toward them. 

“Hey there,” she said, giving Juju a steely look. “So, my children have been talking about a sleepover with… your child.” She looked over towards Junior, with a significantly softer expression. 

“Yes, he just talked to me about it too.” Juju folded her arms.

“Right then. Now, I don’t mind my children inviting friends over for a sleepover as long as they have my permission. Which in this case, they do. Especially since they said they wanted to throw it for him because, in their words, ‘he doesn’t have other friends’.” She gave Junior a kind smile, but Juju detected the pity. “But as a common courtesy, I need to ask if you are willing to give him permission to sleep over at our dorm. You are his mother, after all.”

On the one hand, Juju didn’t like Sonic Boom much. Though she encouraged Junior to be his own person, she admittedly felt a little reluctant to have him spend a night under her supervision. Plus, there was the whole fact of sleeping alone for a night… 

She tried hard to not be overprotective. Domineering. But, well, in her view mothers do get attached to their children. And that was something she couldn’t help.

On the other hand. Junior was right next to her. And he was looking up at her, with those big eyes of his. Those excited eyes. The eyes of a child, who wanted to be a part of a group. Who had found people he liked, and who liked him in return. But mostly, it was because he was his son, and she could never say no to that face. Sucking in a breath, she formulated a compromise. “I will let him go for the sleepover. But, on one condition.”

Sonic Boom raised a brow, and Bad Juju drifted a little closer to her. “I get to supervise alongside you.”

Sonic Boom nodded, and extended a claw for her to shake. “Deal. I guess I’ll see you Friday evening.”

And with that settled, the two families went their separate ways, the children excited, and the mothers girding themselves.

*****

The children had fun. They ate too much sugar, started bouncing around, they played games and sang songs until they all got too tired and passed out. Then the mothers tucked them into their sleeping bags. Careful to make a path for them to walk through. It was a small room full of small ones. You needed to be careful where you stepped.

“You know, I’m actually having a bit of trouble sleeping,” admitted Sonic Boom, as she tucked her last child in. “How about you? You doing okay?”

Juju shrugged. 

Sonic looked down. She licked at her beak, and then looked back up at Juju again. “I’ve got some tea in my cupboard. It’s good tea. Whirlwind got it for me as a present, and it’s good for sleepless nights. Would you like me to prepare a cup?” 

Now, Juju preferred to spend time around the other reformed villains. She found that they understood each other better than the Skylanders did. But she did not mind a handful, and part of that handful included Whirlwind. Frequently, Whirlwind invited her up to her room for tea. And she had to admit, the tea was usually good. “I’ll have a cup,” she said.

While they waited for the electric kettle to boil, the two women looked over their sleeping children. Enjoying the peace. The calm after the storm that was the sleepover before. Candy wrappers, toys, crayons, they all littered the floor. But at the present they were both too tired to clean it all up. “Tea break, and then we clean this place up?”

Juju nodded, unsure of what else to say.

Awkward silence. And then Sonic Boom sighed, made a smacking sound with her beak, and then spoke up again. “You know. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

Bad Juju turned to face her, suddenly interested in what she had to say. “Yes. I… I think we got off to the wrong foot. Usually I don’t really spend time with other mothers, so I have a tendency to be rather… judgemental about other parenting styles. When you’ve been doing this, pretty much by yourself for years, well, you tend to hold certain expectations towards other parents...” She faded away, as if she wasn’t quite sure what else to say.

“Basically, all I want to say is, sorry. I shouldn’t have been so judgemental towards you. You’ve managed to raise Junior to be a perfectly polite, kindhearted young man, and so clearly you are doing something right. So…” She breathed in, and she breathed out again. “Sorry.”

Well, that was a surprise. The kettle hissed, and Sonic Boom turned her attention back to the preparation of tea. She poured hot water into their big ceramic mugs. Ceramic mugs, because her teacups broke in an accident weeks ago.

“You’ve raised some good children too,” said Juju, wringing her hands out of nervous habit. “I’ve seen them. And they’re considerate, they’re wise, they’re… kind. And so, I think you have been a good guide for them too.”

Sonic Boom nodded. “Thank you.” And placed the kettle down. Then the silence returned, and while Juju was usually okay with awkward silence, she could tell that Sonic Boom wasn’t. She seemed to be trying to think about something to say, but no ideas came to mind.

Admittedly, it was rather sad to see. So, Juju stepped in with a conversation topic. “Who’s their father?” She asked. That should get her talking, and remove that awkward expression on her face. 

It did, and that expression changed into something slightly surprised, then to something melancholic. “Their father… I loved him many years ago. But when I told him that I was laying his eggs and hatching his children, he left me for someone younger, more beautiful. And then, well, the curse happened. And I went to Eon. So, that’s how we got here.”

Silence again. But Juju nodded. That had been a lot to take in. But, she saw Sonic Boom opening her mouth again, as if she had more to say. She moved her hand, making a gesture to encourage her to keep talking.

So she did. “It’s, well, I would like to lift the curse some day. Someday, I want my kids to grow up, properly grow up. But well, in this environment where I’m raising them, I… it has it’s advantages. I get to teach them what good is and what evil is and how to help others. And I have resources, all the resources to help find a way to break the curse. But, it’s powerful magic. Plus, the nature of this job is one where every morning, I would have no idea whether or not it’ll be my last morning.” It was all just coming out now. No doubt, she had probably had it stewing inside of her for a while. “And, I don’t mind dying. I don’t mind putting my life on the line for innocent people, and I don’t mind doing it for my children. But what scares me the most is what would happen to them once I’m gone.”

The room was dim, but Juju could hear her voice cracking. By the faint light of a lamp, she could see her beak, and it was a little wet. “I know that I shouldn’t be scared. They’ve grown into perfectly capable fighters. But-”

“A mother worries.” Juju completed her sentence for her. “I understand what you mean.”

Since the tea was finally brewed, they drank it in silence. It was hardly awkward at all. Once they finished their drinks, they finally got sleepy, so they placed their mugs in the bathroom sink to worry about them the next day, and they both headed for bed together.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I've been spending all day watching Leverage with my family. Quarantine has me watching too much TV again.


End file.
